The future requirements made on an automobile with respect to technical possibilities are considerable. The solution to this problem is furthermore subjected to an increasing cost pressure. The functions in the vehicle must be integrated into a system configuration in order to achieve additional functionality at low cost. One such system configuration is, for example, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,776. Here, a control of the total vehicle at least with respect to drive train and brake is suggested. The control exhibits a hierarchial command structure for the control tasks. The control structure described in this patent includes coordinating elements which convert a command, which is issued from a higher hierarchial level, into commands or assignments for elements of a lower hierarchial level. The contents of the commands, which are transmitted from above to below in the hierarchial structure, define, inter alia, physical variables which determine the interfaces between the individual hierarchial levels. The interfaces orientate themselves to the physical characteristics of the vehicle movement, especially, of the drive train and the brake.
In addition to a regimentation for the issuance of commands in a structure for a total vehicle, a structured information acquisition by the elements of the individual levels is a necessary precondition. This is necessary to provide understandability, the energy capability and the functionality of the system configuration. This applies, above all, when further systems, such as the on-board network management, are included in the existing system configuration. Here, a structured information acquisition should include the least possible communication relationships with physically purposeful, exchangeable information. A suggestion as to a structured acquisition of information is not suggested in the above-mentioned state of the art.